Backpage.com brass refuses to testify to Congress
Past and present leadership for beleaguered classified ad site Backpage.com declined to testify before Congress yesterday, arguing that they have a Constitutional right to not discuss a Senate report that accuses the site of editing its “adult” ads to remove words that refer to sex trafficking.
“The Subcommittee has previously been informed by counsel for the witnesses that they will further decline to testify based on their rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Backpage attorney Robert CornRevere said in a statement.
The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report Monday accusing Backpage of automatically filtering out words in online advertising that could indicate that the site users were offering sex with children.
Backpage vehemently denied the allegations, and Corn-Revere argued that the Constitution “protects decisions about whether to accept or reject a submission, how and where to display it, and how it should be edited, and it also protects against the forced disclosure of editorial policies.”
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (ROhio), the subcommittee’s chairman, said Backpage.com has “put profits ahead of vulnerable women and children.” He added that the company is “intent on profiting from human trafficking — and human misery — and profit they have, at the expense of countless innocent victims.”
The site shut down its “adult” section stateside on Monday night to protest what it calls government censorship. Portman said Backpage’s decision validated the panel’s report, a claim the company disputed.
“The Subcommittee’s claim that Backpage.com closed its Adult ad section in response to its flawed report is obviously false,” CornRevere said via email. “The decision was in the works for weeks, and was a result of a series of cumulative and interlocking actions by various government actors.”